A Royal Marine plunged 100 feet while taking part in a special forces selection exercise in Snowdonia.

An inquest heard Ashley Charles Hicks slipped into a gorge as he and five other soldiers were heading towards a rendezvous point near Trawsfynydd pursued by other soldiers.

They had been issued with a small scale map, similar to a road map, and the gorge wasn’t shown. In the darkness they hadn’t realised the danger.

North Wales assistant coroner Nicola Jones heard the 25-year-old, who was leading the patrol, stepped over a dry stone wall and warned the others to “mind your footing” just seconds before he fell.

Three soldiers gave their evidence from behind screens yesterday and their names, ranks and units were not revealed.

Soldier A, an officer, said the exercise was to test soldiers’ ability to adapt and survive “behind enemy lines”.

Marine Hicks, from Solihull, Birmingham, was described as an “exceptionally capable, highly motivated individual”.

The patrol had been dropped off by helicopter in a remote spot near Trawsfynydd on October 6 2012 and had made their way to the first rendezvous point without incident.

Heading to the next point, they decided to take a more direct route to avoid being out in the open during daylight, the coroner heard.

Soldier A said Mr Hicks had volunteered to lead when the group set off after a break at dusk on October 7.

Asked by the coroner if staff in charge of the exercise had pointed out any areas of dangerous terrain, Soldier A said only quarries and bird sanctuaries had been highlighted.

He said it was very dark and they were following each other by the dim light given off by compasses over their shoulders.

Mr Hicks, Soldier A added, stepped over the wall telling the patrol “it’s steep here, so mind your footing”. Seconds later his colleagues heard him slip and fall.

While Soldier B contacted their commanders, Soldier A and Soldier E made their way down the steep gorge to Mr Hicks.

They found him badly injured. The group had very limited first aid supplies and within a few minutes Mr Hicks stopped breathing and the soldiers carried out CPR until an RAF rescue helicopter arrived. He was airlifted to hospital but died later.

A post mortem found he died of multiple injuries consistent with a fall from height.

Ysbyty Gwynedd A&E consultant Dr Linda Dykes said the treatment given to him at the scene by the soldiers and the helicopter crew was “appropriate”.

After the incident another of the seven patrols on exercise turned up. Mistakenly thinking the pursuing soldiers had spotted them, they ran. One soldier slipped and fell 30-40 feet down the gorge injuring his leg. His fall was broken by trees.

Barrister David Whittaker, for the Marine’s family, stressed they weren’t seeking to blame anyone but wanted any lessons to be learned.

Soldier A described how he rejoined the exercise 48 hours later. But directing staff ordered soldiers only to move during the day.

All three soldiers rejoined the exercise later but staff ordered soldiers to move during the day only. Soldier A said he believed there had been two more incidents during the same exercise.